[The evening of Monday 11/24/2003. Location: the Automotive Club of the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech). The clubhouse is a attached to a two door garage and takes space equivalent to a third garage. It is fairly cluttered with parts, although there is an obvious method of organization. There's an old TV setup with a PS2 and DDR mats on one wall, a sink on another, and a small well-kept shrine in a corner.] [Haruko would be happy to pick up Katie, though if she came of her own devices she'd go to Ookayama subway station.] [Start] 06* Haruko has a series of papers spread on the central table. At first glance, they seem to involve physics and calculus problems. There's a white board up with a variety of to-do items relating to the upcoming photo shoot... 06* Haruko has filled in her name in multiple slots, though she seems to be getting some support from Maki and Takumi. S. Kinsha also is listed under the category of lighting work and K. Hibiki is listed as male model on call. 06* Katie is there! She arrived with Haruko (since she offered) and is looking around, taking in the details. "Is that for the photo shoot with Akemi?" she asks, pointing out the white board. 06* Haruko takes off her helmet and walks in. As she takes off her helmet, its apparent to the sharp-eyed that her hair is not as together as it usually is and that she's neglecting the lightly used make-up that she'd been wearing last Wednesday to the Katie-Kyon apartment. She sighs, "Yeah, it should be awesome. Well good, I mean we're an automotive club, we're not pros." 06* Katie takes two steps closer. "Closer to amazing," she says, looking at the plans. "Akemi's a pro, and Kaede's helping and he's been doing a decent job as her manager so far. Even if things don't turn out perfectly on your end, they can cover for you." She blinks. "Ken, huh? Don't let that go to his head." 01 Who's doing the lighting work? Is it someone related to you? 06* Haruko nods and relaxes a bit. "You're right. It’s just, we owe to her, to both of them, to do our part." She then smiles. "Oh yes, that's my mom! Seiya Kinsha. She does lighting and sound work for corporate events. She's also does *some* of the photography, though she says she's an amateur on that." 01 Oh yeah? Cool. I only ever heard about your dad before. 06* Haruko nods and then fills up a pitcher and pours a glass of water for herself and Katie. "The supernatural stuff scares her and I think Temperance has visited her at least once. Not sure which came first." She beams as she brings over the water. "But she taught me to make my first circuitry diagram. She hasn't had a chance to really study the theory, but she knows how to do outdoor stuff and 06* Haruko even how to do photos at night." 01 So she's interested in the practical stuff and you're interested in theory. 06* Haruko shakes her head. "I'm good at practical things in my field." She gestures at her homework. "And okay on theory. But my practical stuff doesn't really carry over to a photo shoot. A lot of my early ideas when we did this last year were apparently 'both awesome and terrible' at least from a safety perspective." 06* Katie laughs. "You did this before?" She takes her glass of water and has a sip. 06* Haruko roots around the clutter and finds a box with the remaining calendar. 06* Haruko was on the cover of her freshmen year calendar. The theme on that one was districts of Tokyo and she's driving through Ginza at night in the rain. The camera work is high end amateur but the Seiya's lighting captures the diamond like gleam in the kicked up water and the fall of Haruko's waterlogged attire on her chest. "My other photos are a bit more demure. But for the cover she just 06* Haruko shrugged and said it worked. We didn't show that one to father." 06* Haruko then walks over to the TV set to make sure that the pads and television are setup properly. About halfway through she pauses and then fiddles with the stereo system to lower the volume. 06* Katie takes the calendar and looks at the cover, snerking at the comment about Haruko's dad. "Nice work with the water." 06* Katie idly flips through the calendar to see the other pictures. 06* Haruko grins. "Lucky how that came out really." Her stomach rumbles slightly as she works but she ignores it. 01 Hungry? 06* Katie doesn't look up from the calendar. [Haruko is in two others, both in more demure outfits. The other pictures include some of the clubs guys and probably a few of their girlfriends. Katie does get a look at Takumi, who is kind of cute and takes care of himself, but probably won't be competing with Ken for the model position.] 06* Haruko waves it off. "Lunch plans cancelled on me and I got to dinner a bit late. I'll be okay until the dining hall opens again tomorrow." 06* Katie rolls her eyes. "Your stomach's already growling. Is there delivery to here?" Yeah. But... 06* Haruko gets a deer in the headlights look as she realizes that she's talking to someone that could tear through the various excuses she's pondering. 06* Katie is already off, looking for the folder of takeout menus that doubtless exists in a place like this. It doesn't mean that Haruko can't say whatever it is she means to say! [Katie finds it by the phone. It’s 2003. There's still landlines. We're a period drama now!] Between a few things for the shoot and Cafe Kitsune, I'm kind of out of cash. I could pay you back after Friday! 06* Katie doesn't look up from looking through the menus, compulsively organizing them as she does so. "I wasn't going to ask," she says. "You drove me here; this'll cover gas." She glances up at Haruko. "What's good?" 06* Haruko looks relieved. "The Yakitori place and the Korean Fried Chicken are our go tos. Hate to say it but the chicken is probably the better of the two. There's also a pizza place I like, but it probably isn't up to your standards." 06* Katie ehs. "It's not like I've had pizza in America in ages anyway." She picks up the phone. "Toppings?" Oh, and there's a KFC nearby, but I don't think we have a menu yet. Should probably get one for next month. Oh... ::Haruko shrugs:: I like Hawaiian-style. That said, last time I suggested it to Kyon he looked at me like I was crazy. 01 That's because of the pork. Every time you order something with pig on it, he looks at you like you're crazy. Also, Hawaiian is gross. 06* Katie dials and waits. 06* Haruko goes through a realization montage. "OOooh. Uh, you pick then." 06* Katie speaks into the phone. "Hi, I'd like to order a pizza for delivery? Yes. Can I get a medium pizza, half Hawaiian and half mushroom and black olives?" She provides the address and such, taking a moment to ask Haruko what the club's phone number is, and then eventually hangs up! "They'll be here in half an hour." 06* Haruko grins. "My hero." She then turns on the PS2. "So we might want to get started now then." She gives a fairly concise summary of the gameplay, she's apparently given this spiel before. 06* Haruko 's gamepads have seen some use. But they also are nicely secured to a small wooden platforms which seem to stick fairly effectively to the floor. It’s obviously a homebrew solution, but one made by sober mechanics to stand up to drunken mechanics. All the corners and edges are duct taped to prevent splinters. 06* Katie heads over and takes off her shoes, because that seems to be a thing. She steps gingerly on the player two gamepad and then takes a few steps, getting used to where the arrows are located. 06* Haruko does the same. She sets two different difficulty levels. "The list of music can be a little overwhelming, I can pick one if you like. You probably want to start something with fewer feet, at least until you've done a song or two. Oh and remember that the dance pad is also the controller." 06* Haruko gives a quick demo how to handle song selection and such. 06* Katie nods. "Okay." She lets Haruko scroll through, then suggests, "Why don't you pick first?" 06* Haruko does in fact pick Smiley.dk Butterfly in two player. "Remember to step firmly, main thing is to stick to the beat, no need to worry about doing anything fancy." 06* Haruko then proceeds to immediately ignore her own advice, she's got a bit of a routine with this one making a series of quick steps with the occasional spin. She also likes Kabuki-style foot stomps on long notes and ends of sequences." 06* Katie laughs at Haruko's foot stomps even though her eyes are fixed on the screen. She hits notes as they come up, making some and missing others as they crawl up slowly. She does not have any routine, but that's not really surprising since she also isn't a DDR shark. 06* Katie steps a little unnecessarily hard at first, but by the end she's not pounding the crap out of the pad anymore. 06* Haruko is actually able to do it in a way that makes things look easy and tries to help Katie keep the beat as she goes. She smiles approvingly. Not bad at all. 06* Katie laughs. "That's easy to *say*," she says, pointing out her C score and Haruko's A. "Let's do another one." Hey, if you're just starting out, the thing is to finish. You want to pick? I think we've got one from your homeland. ::Haruko scrolls down to YMCA:: 06* Haruko doesn't select it though without affirmation from Katie. 06* Katie giggles. "Okay, *fine*." She hits the start button. 06* Haruko sings along as she dances. Her voice isn't the best, although her singing accent is better than when she makes her halting attempts at spoken English. That said she's mostly quiet except when doing the letters. "Takumi has been drilling me on the alphabet." I mean Kenta. Drat, now I'm doing it. 06* Katie hears that and cracks up, flubbing a solid five notes in a row. "Oh no!" she valiantly tries to save her meter from blinking red death. 06* Haruko blushes at that and then laughs herself. 06* Haruko guides Katie through a nice gentle difficulty curve, recommending a few Katie picks wait until she learn a particular song. Before they know it though, the pizza is here. 06* Katie answers for the pizza, flushed from DDR exertion, and pays the delivery guy. She returns with pizza, triumphant! This is followed by getting water (since no soda was to be had) and moving papers out of the way for the more important pizza box. 06* Haruko is both a bit flushed and sweaty. She pauses the game, waves at the pizza guy, notes a lack of response, and afterwards stops over at her locker to check herself in the mirror. "Gah." A little supernaturally aided brushing later her hair is under control and she's to the table. 06* Katie has split the pizza box into halves and has Haruko's half on her own end. "It's easier than finding plates," she explains with a grin. 06* Haruko nods and grabs a piece, devouring it eagerly before she catches herself about halfway through. "Makes sense and thanks. I mean it." 06* Katie says around her slice, "I was hungry, too." 06* Haruko smiles and nods. She looks like she is slightly appraising whether that's true but seems to accept the statement either way. "So, you were good for a first timer. I thought you might be, which is why I didn't turn off the risk of game over. You might even be able to beat me every now and then, if..." 06* Haruko lets that trail off and then decides to focus on her pizza again. 06* Katie hms? around her pizza. 06* Haruko scratches her chin for a moment and thinks. Well, there's something very controlled about the way you dance. That helps your score, but it sometimes gets in the way of the rhythm. 01 That's because it's not really dancing. 06* Katie picks a mushroom off of her pizza and pops it into her mouth. "We were playing a game." 06* Haruko smiles. "This is true. I guess I haven't really seen you dance for real aside from maybe when we were investigating the Band or such." 06* Katie shrugs a little. "That wasn't real dancing. I'm pretty sure that when I dance for real I look like an idiot." She's probably right; Katie tends to be pretty silly when she just doesn't care about what people think or getting a particular reaction. Her art certainly points that way, as do previous conversations about zombies and cheese. 06* Haruko grins. "That's the only way to become a better dancer really. If you don't look like an idiot sometimes you aren't really trying." 06* Katie laughs. "Yeah." She looks at Haruko. "You really like dancing, don't you," she observes. "It wasn't just something you suggested to get closer to Sumire." 06* Haruko grins at that. "Yup. Which is just as well, because nothing I tried worked anyways. I actually got training back with the shrine. We did sacred dance, some kabuki, and even went to see a few Takarazuka shows for some western examples." 06* Katie nods, chewing on more pizza. She swallows. "Good thing you like it." 06* Haruko nods. "I actually asked Mom if we could get extra lessons. Father thinks the western style is a bit," Her tone gets serious, "Silly. But he went along." 01 Well, *he* sounds super Japanese. 06* Katie says this like all of Japan can be combined into one person. [Pause!]